Patrons, Clients, and Empire

Chieftaincy and Over-rule in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific

Colin Newbury

Patrons, Clients, and Empire

Chieftaincy and Over-rule in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific

Colin Newbury

Description

This is a wide-ranging comparative study of relationships between the indigenous leadership of traditional states and colonizing Europeans from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. It challenges stereotypes of despotic imperial power in Asian, African, and Pacific colonies and seeks to answer the fundamental question: how were European officials able to govern so many societies over such a long period of time? Colin Newbury examines the politics of pre-colonial state structures, their subversion by merchants and administrators, and the use made of indigenous leaders, and assesses the legacy of these colonial hierarchies.

Patrons, Clients, and Empire

Chieftaincy and Over-rule in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific

Colin Newbury

Reviews and Awards

"...a creative, perceptive, comparative study...which is careful to explicate the complexities in each colony and to project comparisons among the colonies...deserves the consideration of all scholars of colonialism. History: Reviews of New Books